Released on the eve of Monday’s United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, the video production includes U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), a member of the U.S. Helsinki Commission, as well as experts Eileen Claussen, President of the Pew Center on Global Climate Change, and Julian Wong and Andrew Light, scholars at the Center for American Progress, speaking about the urgent need for environmental cooperation.

The video is the latest addition to the Commission’s robust energy agenda which has included major speeches by the Co-Chairmen at international parliamentary meetings promoting transparency in the energy sector, strong multilateral dialogue, swift domestic legislative action, and international enforcement of emissions reductions agreements.

Ellen Claussen/President, Pew Center on GlobalClimate Change: “I think we are going to see more intense rainfall which will result in floods.”

Rep. Alcee L. Hastings/Co-Chairman, U.S. Helsinki Commission: “Hurricanes and their intensity seem to have increased.”

Andrew Light/Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress: “If you get rising sea levels you are going to have massive migration because of this and dealing with these climate these climate refugees really is going to become a huge problem.”

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Julian Wong/Senior Policy Analyst, Center for American Progress: “The world is really looking again to the United States to, to regain its, to reestablish its commitment, and to be a constructive player.”

Claussen: “Without U.S. action there is no international agreement. If the U.S. is not engaged and is not constructive and does not start to move in the right direction, I don’t think you’re going to see much movement anywhere else in the world.”

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse/Member, U.S. Helsinki Commission: “It’s also a test of our capability as independent sovereign nations to work together to solve such a common problem.”

Light: “The issue about cooperation between developed and developing countries isn’t an option, isn’t just a good idea it’s an absolute utter necessity.”

Natural sound from Clerk: “Those against.”

Cardin: “We’ve had hearings in the United States through the Commission. We’ve participated internationally with other parliamentarians. So the U.S. has shown leadership and its making a difference.”

Hastings: “We are the persons that have laid the groundwork for summitry. And we do that extremely well in the Parliamentary Assembly and in the OSCE generally.”

Whitehouse: “The Helsinki Commission is a very important mechanism for providing those mutual assurances and for building trust.”

Claussen: “I think the kinds of dialogues that you see with the Helsinki Commission are really positive, because it’s in those more informal dialogues that people speak more freely, and others can really understand the issues that we all face.”

Cardin: “The United States should be a leader, but we need to work with the international community. So within the U.S. Helsinki Commission we are working with the other member states to say: let us take the leadership role and develop the right policies and reduce green house gases and really make our planet safer for the future.”